Pittieria aurantiaca

Last updated

Pittieria aurantiaca
Pittieria aurantiaca shell.png
Drawing of apertural view of the shell of Pittieria aurantiaca
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura
clade Panpulmonata
clade Eupulmonata
clade Stylommatophora
informal group Sigmurethra
Superfamily:
Testacelloidea
Family:
Spiraxidae
Subfamily:
Euglandininae
Genus:
Pittieria
Subgenus:
Laeviglandina
Species:
P. aurantiaca
Binomial name
Pittieria aurantiaca
(Angas, 1879) [1]
Synonyms

Euglandina aurantiaca Angas, 1879 Oleacina aurantiaca [2]

Contents

Pittieria aurantiaca [3] is a species of predatory air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Spiraxidae.

This species was described based on only one specimen. [1] This specimen was collected by William More Gabb (1839-1878) in Costa Rica, and the species was described under the name Euglandina aurantiaca by George French Angas in 1879, after Gabb's death. [1] The species was subsequently moved to the genus Pittieria, which was created by Eduard von Martens in 1901.

This snail is carnivorous but it also eats honeydew while that substance is being produced by a species of lantern bug. A species of carpenter ant has been observed climbing onto the head of the snail in order to steal some of the honeydew while the snail is feeding in this way.

Distribution

The type locality of Pittieria aurantiaca was described as "from the hilly country", in Costa Rica. [1] It is now known to occur in the following countries and areas:

Description

The shell of Pittieria aurantiaca is fusiformly oblong, moderately thin and smooth. [1] The surface is shiny. The color is a bright tawny orange, darker towards the base of the columella. [1] The shell has 5½ slightly convex whorls. [1] The spire is papillose and obtuse. [1] The suture has a dark purple colour and is impressed. [1] The columella is slightly oblique, shortly truncated in front. [1] The outer lip is moderately arcuate, simple, not effuse towards the base. [1] The aperture is elliptically oblong and is a pale rosy purple within. [1] The aperture covers half of the length of the shell. [1]

The width of the shell is 13 mm. [5] The height of the shell is 29–30 mm. [5] The height of the aperture is 15–16 mm. [5]

Ecology

All Spiraxidae are thought to be carnivorous. [7]

Pittieria aurantiaca has been observed to feed on honeydew produced and ejected by Enchophora sanguinea (a lantern bug in the family Fulgoridae). This is thought to be the first known trophobiotic interaction between a gastropod and an insect. [8] It was also observed that sometimes ants of an undescribed species in the genus Camponotus (JTL-005, JTL-005 on AntWeb, on Ants of Costa Rica) positioned themselves on the head of the snail in order to "steal" (kleptotrophobiosis) honeydew from the head of the snail. [8] The snail did not appear to be disturbed in any way by this behavior of the ants. [8]

Related Research Articles

Oʻahu tree snail Genus of tree snails

Oʻahu tree snails, genus Achatinella, form a large genus of colorful, tropical, tree-living, air-breathing, land snails, arboreal pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Achatinellidae.

<i>Anthinus henselii</i> Species of gastropod

Anthinus henselii is a species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial gastropod mollusk in the family Strophocheilidae.

Streptostyla is a genus of predatory, air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Spiraxidae.

Streptaxidae Family of gastropods


Streptaxidae is a family of carnivorous air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the clade Stylommatophora. Six Streptaxidae subfamilies are accepted in the 2005 taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi.

<i>Euglandina</i> Genus of gastropods

Euglandina is a genus of predatory medium- to large-sized, air-breathing, land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Spiraxidae.

Oleacinidae Family of gastropods

Oleacinidae is a taxonomic family of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the clade Eupulmonata.

Spiraxidae Family of gastropods

Spiraxidae is a family of predatory air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropods in the superfamily Testacelloidea.

<i>Holospira</i> genus of air-breathing land snails

Holospira is a genus of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the family Urocoptidae.

<i>Enchophora sanguinea</i> Species of true bug

Enchophora sanguinea is a species of lantern bug, a type of hemipteran, found in Central and South America. It was first described by William Lucas Distant in 1887. They are 25 millimetres (1.0 in) long. Their colour varies, but is normally red to green; they have a scimitar-shaped process on their heads. They feed on the sap of trees, most commonly Simarouba amara, and they excrete honeydew out of their anuses.

<i>Pittieria</i> Genus of gastropods

Pittieria is a genus of predatory air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Spiraxidae.

Guillarmodia is a genus of predatory air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Spiraxidae.

Rectaxis is a genus of predatory air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Spiraxidae.

<i>Volutaxis</i> Genus of gastropods

Volutaxis is a genus of predatory air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Spiraxidae.

Mayaxis is a genus of predatory air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Spiraxidae.

Micromena is a genus of predatory air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Spiraxidae.

Miraradula is a genus of predatory air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Spiraxidae.

Pseudosubulina is a genus of predatory air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Spiraxidae.

Spiraxis is a genus of predatory air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Spiraxidae.

Salasiella is a genus of predatory air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Spiraxidae.

References

This article incorporates public domain text from the reference [1]

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Angas G. F. (1879). "On the Terrestrial Mollusca collected in Costa Rica by the late Dr. W. M. Gabb, with Descriptions of new Species". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London : 475-485. 481. Plate 40, fig. 8.
  2. ↑ Pilsbry H. A. (1908). Manual of Conchology (2)1: 31. Plate 5, figure 67.
  3. ↑ Thompson F. G. (16 June 2008). "AN ANNOTATED CHECKLIST AND BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE LAND AND FRESHWATER SNAILS OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA" Archived 2012-10-12 at the Wayback Machine . "PART 4 PULMONATA (ACHATINOIDEA-SAGDOIDEA)" Archived 2016-06-02 at the Wayback Machine . accessed 14 January 2011.
  4. ↑ (in Spanish) Barrientos Z. (2003). "Lista de especies de moluscos terrestres (Archaeogastropoda, Mesogastropoda, Archaeopulmonata, Stylommatophora, Soleolifera) informadas para Costa Rica". Revista de Biología Tropical 51(Suppl. 3): 293-304. PDF Archived 2011-06-29 at the Wayback Machine
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Martens E. v. (1901). Biologia Centrali-Americana. Mollusca. 601-706. British Museum (Natural History). page 612.
  6. ↑ Pilsbry H. A. (1926). "The land mollusks of the Republic of Panama and the Canal Zone". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 78: 57-126. pages 96-97. figure 22d. JSTOR.
  7. ↑ Thompson, FG (2010). "Four species of land snails from Costa Rica and Panama (Pulmonata: Spiraxidae)" (PDF). Revista de Biología Tropical. 58 (1): 195–202. doi: 10.15517/rbt.v58i1.5204 . PMID   20411717. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-29.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  8. 1 2 3 Naskrecki, Piotr; Nishida, Kenji (2007). "Novel trophobiotic interactions in lantern bugs (Insecta: Auchenorrhyncha: Fulgoridae)" (PDF). Journal of Natural History. 41 (37–40): 2397. doi:10.1080/00222930701633570.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.